While fail0verflow's photo wouldn't be that difficult to fake, the group has released several significant hacks for systems ranging from the Wii to the PS4 in the past, lending credence to their Switch hacking claims. Fail0verflow previously tweeted video of a homebrew "scroller" animation running on the Switch, and the group claimed its code exploit worked in a way that "can't be patched (in currently released Switches)."

Despite the public tease, it might be a while before fail0verflow releases details and code for its Switch exploit to the public. While fail0verflow demonstrated a Linux port for the PS4 in 2016, the team didn't reveal the PS4 exploit it used to run that code until over a year later, by which point the exploit had been patched out of more modern PS4 firmware. And the presence of some external hardware, wires, and ribbon cables in fail0verflow's photo suggest the Switch exploit might not even be possible on unmodified hardware just yet.

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One important note is that the "blowing wide open" of the switch at that conference has mostly enabled homebrew. Apparently the encryption between the game cards and the console are solid (challenge-response encryption with a strong cipher) so if anyone is reading this as Switch flashcarts are incoming, that's a solid "no" for now. I honestly hope they never crack the game encryption. The Switch is a great console and it deserves software support without the encumbrances of a black market flash cart economy pulling software sales down.

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

97 Reader Comments

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

The GC and Wii are already emulated, though the latter takes quite a bit of horsepower:

As an ARM tablet, it is interesting to see the Switch being pushed to its full potential. I would really like to see a bootloader unlock with an open API for the joy cons. You could do some very interesting things.

One important note is that the "blowing wide open" of the switch at that conference has mostly enabled homebrew. Apparently the encryption between the game cards and the console are solid (challenge-response encryption with a strong cipher) so if anyone is reading this as Switch flashcarts are incoming, that's a solid "no" for now. I honestly hope they never crack the game encryption. The Switch is a great console and it deserves software support without the encumbrances of a black market flash cart economy pulling software sales down.

As an ARM tablet, it is interesting to see the Switch being pushed to its full potential. I would really like to see a bootloader unlock with an open API for the joy cons. You could do some very interesting things.

You don't need to hack the Switch for that. They're bluetooth devices, and have been successfully paired with Windows, Linux, Android, and MacOS already. They work as standard gamepads without any hackery already. (I look forward to someone figuring out the protocol stuff for the extra bits like the IR camera and the amiibo hardware.)

One important note is that the "blowing wide open" of the switch at that conference has mostly enabled homebrew. Apparently the encryption between the game cards and the console are solid (challenge-response encryption with a strong cipher) so if anyone is reading this as Switch flashcarts are incoming, that's a solid "no" for now. I honestly hope they never crack the game encryption. The Switch is a great console and it deserves software support without the encumbrances of a black market flash cart economy pulling software sales down.

Despite my earlier comment, I happen to agree with this 100% I pay for my games and don’t mind doing so, I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary. Ever have your sibling/friend turn off your PlayStation while you were accessing your save data? I want to buy a Switch so badly, but a deal breaker is a deal breaker.

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

An nVidia Shield Media Player can almost run most Wii games. I personally don't have any issues running Atari 2600 to N64 games off a Nexus Media Player using a generic Logitech USB game controller. Ive had nothing but hassles trying to get N64 games to run off Retro Pi (easy to install, painful to configure).

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

The GC and Wii are already emulated, though the latter takes quite a bit of horsepower:

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

Do you mean actually running emulators on the Switch?

Its internal SoC is a Tegra X1. The Dolphin team made a rough build that runs on the Nvidia Shield with the same SoC, so GameCube emulation definitely seems like a possibility, but would need some work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1s4B4XXr8I

I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary.

You and I lead very different lives. I don't think I've ever lost a save game, and I can't say that it's an issue that would prevent me from buying a console.

Frankly this smacks of virtue signalling. "Oh yes, I love to pay for games, it's just the save backups that make me interested in this hacked-together solution, rather than stressing that this is a service Nintendo should include in their console to begin with."

As a few people have said here: Watching the stagnation of the PSP and the flashcart economy decimate sales on the DS, seeing systems hacked isn't something I enjoy. "But I want to emulate other systems on it" is utterly asinine.

I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary.

You and I lead very different lives. I don't think I've ever lost a save game, and I can't say that it's an issue that would prevent me from buying a console.

It's a portable device.

Right now, with the amount of time I've put into Breath of the Wild, if someone came up to me on the train and threatened me, trying to steal my Switch, I'd be inclined to fight back. It's not worth risking life and limb over a $300 device, but I'm damn well not losing my BoTW save.

Is the reason console makers try to prevent and suppress this kind of thing just piracy? Or are there other concerns? For one, I would love to be able to run low intensity steam games on the switch, that would be portable gaming nirvana.

One important note is that the "blowing wide open" of the switch at that conference has mostly enabled homebrew. Apparently the encryption between the game cards and the console are solid (challenge-response encryption with a strong cipher) so if anyone is reading this as Switch flashcarts are incoming, that's a solid "no" for now. I honestly hope they never crack the game encryption. The Switch is a great console and it deserves software support without the encumbrances of a black market flash cart economy pulling software sales down.

I'll admit to not being up on the scene, so maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me with this console, it doesn't really matter if the security between the console and the game card is solid... You can install and launch retail games off of the SD card, and surely that would be easier to work with?

Is the reason console makers try to prevent and suppress this kind of thing just piracy? Or are there other concerns? For one, I would love to be able to run low intensity steam games on the switch, that would be portable gaming nirvana.

Mainly piracy. I'm sure if the hacking was just limited to running Linux, there would be no real concern (I mean, the PS3 shipped with Linux support).

But I'm not sure you'd be running any Steam games on the Switch anyway. It's ARM-based.

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

Do you mean actually running emulators on the Switch?

Its internal SoC is a Tegra X1. The Dolphin team made a rough build that runs on the Nvidia Shield with the same SoC, so GameCube emulation definitely seems like a possibility, but would need some work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1s4B4XXr8I

I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary.

You and I lead very different lives. I don't think I've ever lost a save game, and I can't say that it's an issue that would prevent me from buying a console.

Frankly this smacks of virtue signalling. "Oh yes, I love to pay for games, it's just the save backups that make me interested in this hacked-together solution, rather than stressing that this is a service Nintendo should include in their console to begin with."

As a few people have said here: Watching the stagnation of the PSP and the flashcart economy decimate sales on the DS, seeing systems hacked isn't something I enjoy. "But I want to emulate other systems on it" is utterly asinine.

Complaining that someone wanting to back up their games sounds like virtue signalling just smacks of virtue signalling. Don't assume other people's motives.

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

Do you mean actually running emulators on the Switch?

Its internal SoC is a Tegra X1. The Dolphin team made a rough build that runs on the Nvidia Shield with the same SoC, so GameCube emulation definitely seems like a possibility, but would need some work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1s4B4XXr8I

The problem with that looking at the Shield for comparisons is the clock speed. the Shield runs at 1.9Ghz and the Switch 1Ghz, so the shield has nearly double the CPU performance.

This is important- CPU performance is a big deal in emulation.

Whether or not you can get the thing to run at well at 1.9Ghz without damage or overheating remains to be seen.

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

Do you mean actually running emulators on the Switch?

Its internal SoC is a Tegra X1. The Dolphin team made a rough build that runs on the Nvidia Shield with the same SoC, so GameCube emulation definitely seems like a possibility, but would need some work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1s4B4XXr8I

The problem with that looking at the Shield for comparisons is the clock speed. the Shield runs at 1.9Ghz and the Switch 1Ghz, so the shield has nearly double the CPU performance.

This is important- CPU performance is a big deal in emulation.

Whether or not you can get the thing to run at well at 1.9Ghz without damage or overheating remains to be seen.

I use TX1 SoMs at work regularly, and the stock Nvidia JetPack image has a very heavy-handed clock-speed scaling governor.

Generally, you're not operating anywhere near maximum clock speed unless you manually run an in-built script to make the clock speed scaling much more aggressive. And when you do that, you can basically cook an egg on the heat spreader.

So, I'm not sure if the Shield is actually running anywhere near 1.9GHz most of the time. The Switch is definitely going to be slower, but if it's hitting a consistent 1GHz, then the clock speed difference may not be as much as it seems.

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

Do you mean actually running emulators on the Switch?

Its internal SoC is a Tegra X1. The Dolphin team made a rough build that runs on the Nvidia Shield with the same SoC, so GameCube emulation definitely seems like a possibility, but would need some work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1s4B4XXr8I

Yep, that's what I meant. Fascinating possibilities!

Pie in the sky wishful thinking but.. If someone makes the nVidia Shield TV run Switch games natively..

In terms of the internal hardware, are we at any point to guess how well console emulation would perform? I'm sure it's a given that PSX/N64 wouldn't be a problem; how about newer systems like GC/Wii/PS2? Granted, I can see PS2 being more of a difficulty, due to its already relatively high requirements on PC and the unknown levels of willingness of the PCSX2 team to branch out to the architecture...

The GC and Wii are already emulated, though the latter takes quite a bit of horsepower:

Edit (this part was cut off): takes a core i5/i7 3rd or 4th generation with a GTX 460 or equivalent as a minimum.

Those requirements are a crock of shit. I have played GC and Wii games on far less powerful hardware. I'm also the type to run grindy parts of games at 2x to 3x native speed. It really depends on the game but there are only a few games that actually require powerful hardware. You can bump that graphics card requirement to really old stuff like the 9600GT. CPU is more dependant on speed of the processor than brand or series. My really old Athlon 64 dual core clocked up to 4.2GHz keeps up just fine, as did my Q9450 once I bumped it up over 4GHz, really that seems to be the key for processor 4GHz or more.

However that's with x86-64 architecture hardware. It could very well be a much different landscape on Nintendo's hardware.

One important note is that the "blowing wide open" of the switch at that conference has mostly enabled homebrew. Apparently the encryption between the game cards and the console are solid (challenge-response encryption with a strong cipher) so if anyone is reading this as Switch flashcarts are incoming, that's a solid "no" for now. I honestly hope they never crack the game encryption. The Switch is a great console and it deserves software support without the encumbrances of a black market flash cart economy pulling software sales down.

More specifically, I hope the game encryption isn't cracked for another X years. (5?) Or even better, if Nintendo would just provide an official (if unsupported) method of homebrew, and a roadmap to unlock the key pieces as time goes on.

I don't recall the source, but (IIRC) an accomplished console hacker made the observation that things with some modability tend to not get fully cracked, at least not for a long time.

...The Switch is a great console and it deserves software support without the encumbrances of a black market flash cart economy pulling software sales down.

Despite my earlier comment, I happen to agree with this 100% I pay for my games and don’t mind doing so, I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary. Ever have your sibling/friend turn off your PlayStation while you were accessing your save data? I want to buy a Switch so badly, but a deal breaker is a deal breaker.

Nothing a little nam shub or a replacement friend wouldn't resolve. Life's too short to be hacked by a friend

I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary.

You and I lead very different lives. I don't think I've ever lost a save game, and I can't say that it's an issue that would prevent me from buying a console.

Frankly this smacks of virtue signalling. "Oh yes, I love to pay for games, it's just the save backups that make me interested in this hacked-together solution, rather than stressing that this is a service Nintendo should include in their console to begin with."

As a few people have said here: Watching the stagnation of the PSP and the flashcart economy decimate sales on the DS, seeing systems hacked isn't something I enjoy. "But I want to emulate other systems on it" is utterly asinine.

It's unacceptable for a device that's designed to be used on the go to have the saves locked onto the device. I shouldn't be risking being out all of my saves due to physical damage to the device, damage which is much likelier to happen than with other consoles due to one of the main selling points of the device.

If Nintendo would simply allow cloud saves then they'd cut off the main justification available to people for why they want to hack the device.

My position on this is it's better to keep the avenues for piracy small as long as the console is current to avoid the manufacturer giving up on it. Once that period is over though, opening it wide open becomes essential as sometimes that's the only way to keep older machines going. Being able to run software from a hard drive on a ps2 (long after the disc drive has failed) has extended the machine's lifetime tremendously.

I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary.

You and I lead very different lives. I don't think I've ever lost a save game, and I can't say that it's an issue that would prevent me from buying a console.

Frankly this smacks of virtue signalling. "Oh yes, I love to pay for games, it's just the save backups that make me interested in this hacked-together solution, rather than stressing that this is a service Nintendo should include in their console to begin with."

As a few people have said here: Watching the stagnation of the PSP and the flashcart economy decimate sales on the DS, seeing systems hacked isn't something I enjoy. "But I want to emulate other systems on it" is utterly asinine.

It's unacceptable for a device that's designed to be used on the go to have the saves locked onto the device. I shouldn't be risking being out all of my saves due to physical damage to the device, damage which is much likelier to happen than with other consoles due to one of the main selling points of the device.

If Nintendo would simply allow cloud saves then they'd cut off the main justification available to people for why they want to hack the device.

Nintendo doesn’t understand the internetIt terrifies them

They never even thought of such a thing until people started complaining. And I guarantee you’ll have to be a Nintendo Online subscriber to do it, as Sony gets away with that, and because DeNA handles the scary online world for them

One important note is that the "blowing wide open" of the switch at that conference has mostly enabled homebrew. Apparently the encryption between the game cards and the console are solid (challenge-response encryption with a strong cipher) so if anyone is reading this as Switch flashcarts are incoming, that's a solid "no" for now. I honestly hope they never crack the game encryption. The Switch is a great console and it deserves software support without the encumbrances of a black market flash cart economy pulling software sales down.

Despite my earlier comment, I happen to agree with this 100% I pay for my games and don’t mind doing so, I’ve just had too many saves lost that not being able to make backup copies makes me very wary. Ever have your sibling/friend turn off your PlayStation while you were accessing your save data? I want to buy a Switch so badly, but a deal breaker is a deal breaker.

Thankfully given that the Switch is also a portable, that one specific way of losing save data doesn't work on Switch. Your sibling or "friend" cannot really "turn off" the console, as unplugging it just means it keeps on using its internal battery. They could hold down the power button on the top of the device, but that only puts the thing into sleep mode. To actually turn it off, you'd need to hold down that button for a few seconds (or hold down Home on your controller for a few seconds) and choose "Power off" from the menu. By then, your save data is probably already finished writing.

Far more likely that save data would be lost due to accidentally overwriting it, or losing the console itself (forgetting it somewhere, it getting stolen, etc.). I really wish we had a way to back up save data as well, though.

MacBook Pro hack would be rather impractical but the rest isn't necessarily useless.

I just see these as "proof of concept" types of situations. Much like if you compromise a computer you display this success by opening Calculator. I doubt that any malicious hacker is going to attack a machine so that they can use its Calculator program.

Kyle's title appears to indicate that he believes Nintendo continues to own each Switch console even after a consumer has paid for and taken possession of it.

Sadly, Kyle is probably correct. More and more consumer technology is, for all practical purposes, owned and controlled by the corporations that create it, and not by the consumers who pay for and use the devices. Thanks to laws like the DMCA, this eternal corporate ownership is even protected by governments in some cases.

If consumers actually owned "their" devices, a verb such as "free", "liberate", or "emancipate" would be more appropriate than "hijack".

My position on this is it's better to keep the avenues for piracy small as long as the console is current to avoid the manufacturer giving up on it. Once that period is over though, opening it wide open becomes essential as sometimes that's the only way to keep older machines going. Being able to run software from a hard drive on a ps2 (long after the disc drive has failed) has extended the machine's lifetime tremendously.

There comes a point where it's counterproductive.

Nintendo's clearly done a good job of finding the right side of that line; the Switch is selling great, so clearly its anti-piracy measures haven't alienated its audience.

I think a big part of why the Vita failed, though, was the overpriced proprietary memory cards. Sony was so worried about how (it thought) piracy had hurt PSP sales that it created an anti-piracy measure that hurt Vita sales far worse than piracy ever would have.

Kyle's title appears to indicate that he believes Nintendo continues to own each Switch console even after a consumer has paid for and taken possession of it.

Sadly, Kyle is probably correct. More and more consumer technology is, for all practical purposes, owned and controlled by the corporations that create it, and not by the consumers who pay for and use the devices. Thanks to laws like the DMCA, this eternal corporate ownership is even protected by governments in some cases.

If consumers actually owned "their" devices, a verb such as "free", "liberate", or "emancipate" would be more appropriate than "hijack".

I don't think you could anthropomorphize a device any more than you've done here.